Rally to Open the Lachin Corridor

Citizens’ Initiative called “Openning” is protesting in front of the Armenian Foreign Ministry, demanding to present all the documents sent to international organizations and governments, including the UN, European Union, OSCE, OSCE Minsk Group, PACE, ECHR, Hague Tribunal, UNSC, the USA, Russia, France, the UK and China. Protesters demand to stop the blockade in Artsakh and prevent humanitarian crisis, to defend and send back Vagif Khachatryan, a patient who has been transferred to Yerevan from Stepanakert accompanied by the Red Cross Committee on July 29, and to defend and send back Rashid Beglaryan, kidnapped by Azerbaijani forces on August 1. Protesters stressed that humanitarian crisis could threaten the existence of our compatriots. Tomorrow it will threaten us too:

“Our duty is to prevent this and ensure our and their safety, welfare and right to a decent existence. We should force the international community to take measures to stop the suffering of our brothers and sisters from Artsakh.

“It is time for our government to be brave, to demand the immediate lift of the blockade and to defend rights and safety of our compatriots from Artsakh. It is disheartening to see that our government’s policy is to consider Artsakh as a part of Azerbaijan and seek peace in these conditions”, a protester noted.

Protesters are sure that all the accepted and sent documents and statements should be revealed to public.

It should be mentioned that, on December 12, 2022, Azerbaijan, violating provisions of the three-party statement of November 9, 2020, illegally blocked the Lachin corridor connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia, ignoring appeals of Moscow, Washington and Brussels, as well as demands of the UN International Court of Justice to ensure the free movement of people, vehicles and cargo in both directions. The blockade continued even after the end of the so-called “environmental campaign”. Azerbaijan deployed the illegal checkpoint in the corridor and, on June 15, Artsakh appeared to be in the complete blockade, deprived of the access to all kinds of goods and commodities. Due to the blockade of the only road connecting Artsakh and Armenia, 120 000 civilians are deprived of the free movement and basic living conditions. Even patients cannot be transferred to Armenia.